How Netflix, Fetishism & Racism Ruined My Italy Trip

Dear Black Women: Netflix lied to us.

Shows like “From Scratch” and reality TV series like “To Rome for Love” told us Italian men provide the love, protection, and self-worth we’re missing everywhere else. Yet during my month in Italy, traveling north to south, I didn’t find one Lino, Enzo, or Riccardo with a romantic bone in their body.

Instead, I was propositioned as if I were a prostitute in Bologna. In Venice, I asked an Italian guy who approached me what his hobbies were, and he boldly replied “Sex” while laughing. Not once did I feel men saw me and thought this is love at first sight…